There is a frequent demand for smaller devices with more memory, including non-volatile memory. Some efforts have been initiated in resistive memory as a mechanism for creating more memory in less space. Resistive memory systems use a resistive element that can change and maintain the value of its resistivity based on applied conditions. For example, a high resistive state may be used to represent a logical ‘1’ while a low resistive state may be used to represent a logical ‘0’. The various operations performed on a resistive memory cell include write, read and reset operations. The reset operation is used to erase the memory and prepare it for a subsequent write operation. The voltage used to reset the resistive memory cell is relatively high, and may be higher than is desirable for certain memory cell components.
For example, it may take approximately two volts of applied voltage to reset the resistive switching device. That voltage, however, may be outside the preferred operations of a transistor within the memory cell and may thus cause damage. It is desirable to be able to adequately reset a resistive switching device without applying too high of a voltage to certain memory cell components.